🗓️ What’s Up Next
Congress
The House is in recess. The Senate is in today.
The PA General Assembly
The House is in session. The Senate will reconvene February 2nd.
Want a deeper dive?
If there’s a topic you’re interested in our analysis of, feel free to drop us a line. We’ll be doing deeper dives on the big stuff as it happens, but we’re always happy to hear what you want to know.
The Congressional Breakdown
The weather has done a number on most of the eastern half of the US this week, including Washington. Congress is coming back on a tight deadline that many are starting to fear might be impossible. In order to keep federal funding from lapsing at 12:01 AM Saturday, the Senate must pass all the bills sent forward by the House funding various government agencies and departments. There’s a major thing standing in the way that could trigger another shutdown: DHS funding.
It seems generally accepted that Democrats will come out of their talks today (Wednesday, January 28th), with a few changes to the Homeland Security funding bill. Any changes would require changing or splitting the DHS portion of the minibus bill, and require it to be sent back to the House for review. Republicans, who are growing increasingly aware and increasingly critical of the administration’s immigration enforcement tactics, are hoping there’s an off-ramp via executive action or another way to move forward without changing the bill entirely.
While it’s an unpopular sentiment that the DHS funding bill be allowed to move forward without changes or guardrails on immigration enforcement, it’s one of the few options Congress has to avoid another shutdown. For now, let’s take a look at what else is happening in Congress.
What’s Going on in Congress
Still remaining at-large in the minds of both Congress and the nation are the future of Affordable Care Act subsidies. Yesterday, Senator Angus King (I-Maine) said that a bipartisan group has landed on a deal that both parties will accept, whose text will “hopefully be released in the next day or so”. Though, it’s not enough of a promise to get excited about, according to Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). Whether a bill materializes or not, it’s worth noting that it will likely still be separate from the varying healthcare bills that are being talked about and have yet to be ironed out.
Outside of healthcare and Congress’s escalating fight with the DHS, the House is now in recess and the Senate remains focused on passing appropriations bills in the coming days.
The Sector Breakdown
Air Traffic Safety: A year ago, an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk collided over Washington, D.C., killing 67 people. The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting a hearing into the situation, and the multiple requests made by a regional supervisor that would have made the airport safer—and the tragedy preventable.
Agriculture: Researchers have found that higher farm productivity has a direct impact in keeping greenhouse gas emissions in check.
Tech: TikTok has new owners, but it remains to be seen how much the algorithm will change. If you opened the app for the first time any time after the deal was done, though, you likely got an inescapable pop-up asking you to agree to new Terms of Service. The inability to disagree with said terms has caused an exodus from the app for some users. Here’s what it contained. Users have also reported that any anti-ICE content is facing “tech issues” and not being uploaded to the platform; the same is happening with any mention of Epstein. In other tech news: the acting cyber chief uploaded sensitive files into a public version of ChatGPT this summer.
Defense: Secretary of State Marco Rubio is testifying this morning before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the operations in Venezuela. In Iran, American ships are moving closer to the region, a response to unrest in the nation after an internet blackout and the killing of nearly 6,000 civilians in the last few weeks.
Jobs and Economy: UPS, one of the largest employers in the United States behind Walmart and Amazon, is planning to cut up to 30,000 operational jobs this year and shutter 24 facilities as it reduces the number of Amazon shipments it handles. They plan to “focus on higher-profit areas such as healthcare customers”. Amazon has also announced that it’s cutting around 16,000 jobs.
The Pennsylvania Impact
In the wake of Alex Pretti and Renee Good’s deaths in Minneapolis, protests have erupted across the nation. In Pittsburgh, dozens of people rallied outside the federal building, urging Senators McCormick and Fetterman to vote against funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Fetterman called on President Trump to fire DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, but has said he won’t vote against DHS funding.
In Philadelphia, lawmakers are set to introduce legislation on Thursday that would make it harder for ICE to operate in the city, including limiting information sharing, restricting activity on city-owned property, and prohibiting agents from concealing their identities. After years of debate over the topic, the package also contains an ordinance that would make Philadelphia's status as a so-called “sanctuary city" permanent. It’s a point of contention, as the city formally changed its status to a “welcoming city” in the wake of the Trump administration’s threats to pull funding and crack down on immigration in cities that claimed the title of “sanctuary city”. If you don’t already, follow The Bellevue Bulletin—our state-and-city-based newsletter—for more updates on this as it unfolds.
Like last week, we have to wait and see what the status of the funding bills are in the Senate before we offer any analysis on what could change for Pennsylvania as the federal government is funded at-large. We’ll keep you in the loop on both the status of the bills and the potential shutdown.
🔥 What We’re Watching
“The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists have moved the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight than ever before. The clock is now 85 seconds to midnight, the closest it has come to catastrophe since its debut 80 years ago.” What is the Doomsday Clock?
A man who sprayed Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn) at a town hall on Tuesday has been arrested and placed into police custody.
The AI arms race has one critical downside for one large group: college students. For those not using AI, the anxiety of being accused of cheating by its use has skyrocketed.
Plus, some fun news emerging from frigid temperatures and snow: watch Olympic snowboarder Shaun White did tricks over comedian friends in Central Park this weekend.
Did You Know? Philadelphia was the site of the very first hot air balloon launch by French aeronaut Jean Pierre Blanchard, who completed the first successful flight starting in the yard of Walnut Street Prison and landing in Gloucester County, NJ.
Till next time,